• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

ABSTRACT THE BODY UNDERNEATH: A METHOD OF COSTUME DESIGN by Leslie Anne Wise Stamoolis A survey of costume design texts currently available to designers revealed that the research-based, scholarly design methods that experienced designers use have not been theorized or written down. Therefore, this thesis seeks to begin to theorize one potential scholarly method of costume design – studying the body to be costumed to understand why it is then clothed as it is – using the tools of theatre semiotics, cultural, anthropological, and historiographical studies, and traditional elements of costume design. Through the apparatus of designing and building costumes for The Conversion of Ka’ahumanu by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, the method is explored as a way to design an intercultural play: a script that makes the meeting of cultures its main plot, and whose cultures may not be readily known by, and different from, those of the audience. The thesis concludes with implications for further research and goals of the author for the continuation of work. THE BODY UNDERNEATH: A METHOD OF COSTUME DESIGN A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Theatre by Leslie Anne Wise Stamoolis Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2007 Advisor _________________________ Ann Elizabeth Armstrong Reader __________________________ Roger Bechtel Reader __________________________ Lin Conaway Reader __________________________ Elizabeth Reitz Mullenix © Leslie Anne Wise Stamoolis 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication . iv Acknowledgements . v Introduction . 1 Chapter 1: Methodology . 5 Chapter 2: The Design Process, Implementation, and Evaluation . 23 Chapter 3: The Language of the Hawaiian Female Body Unwrapped . 44 Chapter 4: The Language of the Missionary Female Body Undressed . 65 Conclusion . 82 Selected Bibliography and Works Cited . 84 Appendix I: Renderings. 88 Ka’ahumanu 1 Ka’ahumanu 2 Sybil 1 Sybil 2 Hannah 1 Hannah 2 Pali 1 Pali 2 Lucy 1 Lucy 2 Appendix II: Program Note. 98 Page 1 Page 2 iii To my husband, for providing me with unfailing support, encouragement, and love To my mom, for teaching me everyday about true womanhood and To my dad, for exemplifying faithful scholarship and perseverance, and reminding me always to be a good little Colt iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am so appreciative of my advisor and committee: Thanks to Ann Elizabeth for insightful criticisms, patience, and never saying “good enough.” Thanks to Roger for pushing me to think and feel more deeply as a scholar and as an artist. Thanks to Lin for guidance in my designer’s eye and encouraging me to trust my gut. And thanks to Liz for exemplifying the kind of female scholar I hope to be. Thanks to the Miami University Department of Theatre faculty for challenging coursework and opportunities to grow as a student and as a person. Thanks to Meggan Peters for skillful execution of the designs and valuable instruction in the shop. Thanks to Karen and Angie for abundant information, patience, and (most of all) soul food. Tremendous thanks to the Hartmans, Phillipses, Stamoolises, and Wises for all the love and support – because no one in my family undertakes anything alone. And lastly, thank you to Oliver F. Hubbard, the first theatre scholar I ever knew and still my favorite. Ollie, you taught me the old, deep magic of theatre. I am here because of you. v INTRODUCTION The following paper is not a traditional costume design thesis because the play in question is not a traditional play. The Conversion of Ka’ahumanu by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl requires a costume designer to approach more than the usual array of design problems and also provides a designer with an array of design opportunities. In 1820, Hawai’i is a land in flux; the western world has been invading the lives of the Hawaiians for forty-two years, with the aims of financial gain and imperialistic expansion. The influence of the newcomers eventually leads to the abolition of the Hawaiian religion by the king Liholiho in November 1819, leaving the people unstable. Ka’ahumanu, the kuhina nu’i, knows the fate of her people rests in her hands and in whatever choices she makes regarding the future of the culture. It is in this moment that the play begins to unfold – with the arrival of the first company of missionaries to Hawai’i, bringing the first white women and very different goals than the whalers and tradesmen. Can the Hawaiian culture continue undisturbed? Will the influence of the western world destroy the past and plague the future irreparably? Native Hawaiian women – including the queen regent, Ka’ahumanu; a half white, half Hawaiian, Hannah Grimes; and a member of the outcast class passing as a commoner, Pali – as well as early nineteenth century Congregationalist missionary women – Sybil Bingham and Lucy Thurston – are real women of the past and also the characters of the play whose historical and cultural interaction came at the crest of a major tide of change in their worlds and in their individual lives. The moment represented by the play is a significant one, too, for the history of the United States and the colonial actions that stain the pages of the past, thereby making it a chance for education and awareness. The play’s treatment of women – five women only, no male characters at all – as subjects worthy of attention provides a chance to explore a feminist perspective of the past. The rich textures offered by each culture, as well as the new textures that emerge in their encounters with one another, create a play of profound importance and interest. As an indicator of culture, clothing has been stressed as an important element of costume design theory, as well as historical silhouette or fashion; it is considered general knowledge, too, that clothes can “say” something about a particular person or group of people – that clothing speaks just as a person does. If a costume designer is designing a play whose origin, audience, actors, and production team share the same culture or time period, the very vague, general idea of “psychology of clothing” can be employed by the design as historical premises are understood by all involved. However, as soon as even one of these factors changes – as soon as either the audience members, 1 for example, or the play itself is of a different culture than the others’ – interculturalism is in effect, and all generalities and “universals” cease to be sufficient. If a theatre event that addresses multiple cultures is to be respectful and honoring of all cultures, as well as historically and culturally accurate to a degree, in order to guide the audience’s understanding both of the historical culture and of the dramatic events onstage, suddenly a designer is faced with a monumental responsibility. Since clothing and identity are so closely paired onstage – indeed, costume and character are read as synonymous – the task of visually representing the people of the historical culture in a way that will fulfill the goals above falls on the shoulders of the costume designer. In The Conversion of Ka’ahumanu the challenges do not even end there. The issue of interculturalism between the subjects of the play and the audience is significant on its own; however, there is also interculturalism at play between the two cultures represented by the characters onstage. The Hawaiians and the missionary women interact and respond to one another’s worlds throughout the play, drawing attention to their own as well as alerting the audience of the always-lurking issues of colonialism, acculturation, othering, and the hegemonic gaze. I pause here to point out something I have so far mentioned without comment – the living, breathing actors onstage. The fact that clothing must reside on the body is not to be overlooked by a costume designer. Designers are fond of saying that our medium is fabrics; I think it would be wiser to say that our medium, and our canvas, is the actor’s body. After all, the body informs clothing choices in so many daily ways that people take for granted – cold? Add layers. Feel like relaxing? It’s knitted fabrics all the way. In much more significant ways, though, the body informs how it is dressed – in ways that reveal cultural norms, beliefs, and expectations. This is no small feature; as Bryan Turner states, “We can thus think of the body as an outer surface of interpretations and representations and an internal environment of structures and determinations” (38). The culture that creates the “internal environment” is thus manifested on the body as “interpretations and representations” of that culture. Therefore, I argue that every reason behind clothing can be traced back in some way to the body underneath. I propose, then, a new way to think about costume design when faced with historical moments and interculturalism, in an effort to advance the role of costume design as a vital, intelligent, and educational theatrical element that can and should be used for the awareness and appreciation of cultures throughout time and around the world as represented in theatre. To begin this journey, I start in Chapter One by elaborating how and where such a project should start by discovering the shortcomings present in current costume design theory and what other disciplines 2 might be able to fill the gaps – namely, the work of theatre semiotics. An examination of what such theorists as Keir Elam, Susan Bennett, and Ferdinand De Toro have to offer as tools for design leads me to conclude that costume designers need to work in a system of language that considers issues of the audience. I develop a metaphor – the Language of the Body – purely as a means to an end, a way of communicating abstract beliefs a culture holds about the human body by articulating their beliefs into a Grammar, composed of Parts of Speech, which can then be “written” as a design text.

Load more

  105

Copy Link